Lover I Don't Have to Love
by Invader Miraza
Summary: Batman and Bruce Wayne struggle with their opposing but entwined identities, while also grappling with their romances with the Joker and Selina Kyle.


Disclaimer: Property of: Warner Bros, DC Comics, Legendary Films, Chris Nolan, Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, and Magically Michelle Pfifer. I own nothing! Woe to me.

Slash warning! Turn back now.

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Aloha everyone! I know some of you will kill me for not posting another chapter of "Who Will Love Me Now?", but my friend Faith and I started writing this around the same time. This is a tandem project, so the writing style will be different from my other work.

For your pleasure, this is a story of BAT/JOKER, BRUCE/SELINA, and *gasp*, SELINA/JOKER

Please enjoy. R&R!

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**Lover I Don't Have to Love**

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Nightime.

The city is waking.

Gotham, in all it's dirt smeared brick and glass glory. The streets, alleyways--the very cement yells it's sins to the night sky.

The City's own Dark Knight drives these lonely roads. The street lights flash through the black slit windows to the clenched, taught jaw of Gotham City's protector. His eyes dart over to a small mass in his viewline. A black cat. Hurt, limping. He quickly refocuses.

Still the image stains his mind.

_Damn you, Selina_.

The sun had only set hours before--and already, sirens wail through the night. Another heist, crafted by the most notorious of jewel thieves. Catwoman.

The black vehicle swerved down a vacant street.

He knew where she was going. Well, he had an idea where she was going. There were only so many spots a little kitten could sneak off to in this city.

Still...  
As well as he knew her, Selina Kyle was ridiculously unpredictable.  
He smirked beneath his tight black cowl.  
_Sublimely unpredictable.  
_  
He could never condone her behavior. He always chased after her--made her turn to justice for her crimes...but neither of them could deny their chemistry. Their connection to one another.

She was always a distraction.

The street screamed as the Batmobile came to a halt in front of one of Gotham's finest apartment high rises. With the winding terraces and gargoyle decor along the building's sides,  
He could see why she felt at home here.

It wasn't a trick to scale the building--most of the rooms were vacant, due to recent political obstruction of the economy. That isn't exactly masked vigilante work. Though, he'd considered it once or twice...

When he reached Selina's apartment, he found it empty. By the looks of it, she hadn't stayed there for quite some time.

He's late. She's already done with her work tonight. But perhaps he could still find her as Catwoman if he went now.

There was another loft under her name not too far from the museum. A loft he hasn't found her frequenting for at least a year. But he had a feeling.

That connection.  
That power of hers.

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_Damn. Damn, damn, damn--_

_Oh, damn, that hurt._

Selina half limped into her loft. She peeled vinyl from her skin, the material leaving sweaty, sticky trails on her arms and legs.

Why, oh, why, did they have to use guns.

Selina loathed guns.

Mostly because she was usually the one being shot at.

On her way to the bathroom, she glanced at the large diamond in her still-gloved hand. Yellow in color, it was the largest of it's kind in the world. A rather tricky job, but she pulled it off.

Per usual.

She turned on the water in the bathtub.

---------------------------------

_Alright. Again._

Batman worked his way to the loft's balcony. This night was already building up to be a long one. He stepped down onto the ledge.

She never locked the terrace doors.

Amazing she hadn't been burgled herself by now.

He looked in--and found the thief lounging in bed, freshly washed, a small blue hard-backed book in her hand, reading by moonlight.

Her costume laid in a crumpled mess by the bathroom door, the diamond on her nightstand.

His eyes scanned the room.

Selina. Diamond. Selina. Diamond.

_Selina..._

Her arms and legs were bare, a satin nightgown resting on the curves of her figure. A dark, ghastly purple bruise stretched from her right shoulder down to her elbow. He felt pangs of guilt, as he recalled a night not too long ago.

It had been raining--they were tangled on the roof--and he had kicked her there, and sent her flying into a neighboring roof staircase.

The sight of what he had done to her was bitter. Catwoman makes it impossible for him to think of her in any way but a steel woman. A viciously cunning and fatally powerful creature of the night. Her attacks, her ice tongue and jagged claws is blinding.

Enough for him to forget that over her cold words are warm lips, and under her ravaging claws are soft hands.

That there is a woman under the Cat. One he has hurt. A hundred times.

"Bruce."

He froze.

"Are you just going to stand out there all night."

Selina turned a page in her book. How long had she known he was out here? Standing there, like Hamlet's father.

"It's getting cold out."

He very begrudgingly pushed open the terrace door. Selina finally deigned to mark her place in her book and look up. The white light shining in through the window lit her Cheshire smile.

He stepped inside.

"You've been busy."

"Early bird catches the worm. All that jazz."

"You're no bird."

"Observant. I'd make a joke here about my dinner, but I'm no fan of feathers."

"Pre-meditated robbery, however..."

"Oh, Bruce--did you really come here to talk shop with me?"

"The diamond, Selina."

She slid off the bed, the white nightgown bunching briefly at her thighs, then falling gently around her knees.

Batman watched her, painfully. 

_Focus._

"You could have taken it whenever you wanted."

She sauntered near him.

"You could have taken -me- whenever you wanted...no whip, no claws--I'm defenseless..."

"You always have claws, Selina."

"Ouch, Batman. That stings a little." She crossed her arms, her fingers brushing the purple skin by her elbow. Bruce looked away. Batman sighed.

Her tongue traced the perfect curve of her teeth.

"What's the matter Brucie..." Selina tiptoed toward him. She laid her hand behind his cowl and pressed her body slowly to him. She peered into the distant blue darkness of his eyes, "Cat got your tongue?"

Bruce was paralyzed. All rational thought, every bit of sense he'd managed to hold onto until now flew right out the window. She was so close--too close--she was barely wearing...anything.

He didn't notice--but Selina had started moving him around. Prowling, stalking. A cat without a mask now. He was stumbling backwards, catching his feet just in time. Did it matter at the moment? He could smell her bath soap, a light flowery scent--the water in her hair, on her skin.

Selina smiled.

Like putty in her hands.

She watched the black bat on his chest rise and fall.  
He wasn't the easiest person to subdue. Like trying to coerce a rhino into ballet lessons. Still, she liked him like this. Gentle, quiet...human.

Selina loved Bruce. She loved him. And, sometimes...she thought he loved her right back.

"Bruce... what are you hiding in there?"  
She traced over his lips softly with her fingers. She slipped one beneath his mask by his jawline.

"You're not a secret anymore. Not to me."

Batman's hands flew to hers. He very nearly stopped her. Bruce...didn't. He held her wrists, watching her green eyes staring so deeply into his.

"Selina..."

"Oh shh. No time for whining Bats." Selina yanked her tiny wrists from his grasp and forcefully shoved him back onto her bed.

She moved between his knees, her delicate hands tracing his shoulders. He touched her waist lightly--he couldn't resist, holding her there, watching her above him. The light from behind shone through the thin satin covering her. The outline of her body was all he could see. That familiar shape of her thighs meeting her hips. The wane of her hips to her waist. The curve of her waist to her breasts and shoulders. The slender neck to her beautiful face. That form he thinks of so very, so too often. He worships it.

She said nothing more, tilting his head upwards, lightly caressing his jaw.

His lips parted at her touch. She placed her hands on his firm shoulders. Selina raised her leg to his thigh, placing her small weight on his body. She lowered one leg to his, then the other. Straddling his thighs with hers. He felt her warmth even through his Kevlar.  
Bruce swallowed.

Warm, damp lips met his. He melted into their touch--losing himself in her mouth. The severe fever of her kiss made him almost delirious.

Selina devoured his lips, mewling into his touch. Her soft noises brought him back to life momentarily--he shouldn't be here--this wasn't the time for this. Not as Batman.

So much effort devoted to separating the Batman from Bruce for his own sanity. His two selves intertwined by this damned feline. Maddening.

He touched her shoulders and gently pushed her back. Their mouths parted in a sea of panting. She stared down at him, ready for another go--

When a bright light caught his attention out the terrace windows.

The signal.

A bittersweet escape.

Batman stood, lifting Selina with him--and threw her back onto her bed. She smiled as he leaned over her, leaning upwards as he pressed his lips to hers again.

He pulled away.

"I have to go."

She stared as he stalked back to the balcony. Over his shoulder, she saw the bright, gleaming bat signal, stretched across a cloud.

_That...fucking...signal..._

"You have to WHAT?" She stood, tearing out of bed, rushing over to him.

"You have to WHAT?! No--Bruce--NO--"

A silent look answered her bubbling rage.

"You--You can't _**leave**_ me like this! Just who do you think you are?!"

Batman halted just one moment before stepping off her balcony ledge.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Selina's eyes glared into the empty balcony. She was shaking from fury--her eyes were stinging, hands clenched.

_Little Rat with Wings._

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Soles numbly tapped the concrete. He turned on his heel, and walked back across the roof.

The Commissioner was nervous. Ten minutes. Ten minutes--nothing.

Where was he.

Sometimes Gordon felt like a worried mother, hemming and hawing whenever the Bat took his sweet time to answer the signal. Whatever he was doing, it had to wait...by morning, the whole City could be a pen of raving lunatics--

"OH--!" Gordon stumbled back, in mid pace. "Are you incapable of a 'hello'?" He lightly adjusted his glasses, the black-clad hero staring silently before him.

James Gordon was sure of one thing, at least. If Gotham didn't kill him, Batman surely would.

"What do you have for me, Commissioner."

"It's the Joker. Normally, I'd ask you to take the same precautions as usual, but..." He reached around the bright signal, turning it off. "...He's using the Hatter."

"Hatter?"

"Yes. When he left Arkham weeks ago, we now know exactly where he went. We just received--letters, made of newspaper clippings, ransom tapes--they're going to release a neuro-bomb on half the town, and no one can get in...he asked for you. Again."

"Where are they."

"Avenue R. Maxis building, one of the warehouses." Jim pulled up his sleeve, checking the time, "I have most of the force dispatched there, and they can't do a damn thing...you have to hurry."

Gordon raised his eyes.

He was gone.

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End file.
